Huckabee Tops Poll of Presidential Contenders

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was building momentum toward the end of the 2008 Republican presidential primary campaign. And apparently he’s still on a roll. A new Gallup poll shows him with the largest net-favorable impression among potential Republican presidential candidates for 2012, The Hill reports.

The difference between the percentage of Republicans who favor him and disfavor him totals 30 points. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich places second at 24 percentage points, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney third at 23 points and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin fourth at 22.

Rep. Mike Pence, Ind., ranks sixth at 19, Rep. Ron Paul, Texas, seventh at 18, former Sen. Rick Santorum, Pa. eighth at 17, Sen. John Thune, S.D., ninth at 17 and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour 10th at 15 points.

Meanwhile, Huckabee and Romney stand neck-in-neck in a poll of Republican Iowa voters conducted by Rick Shaftan, Politico reports. Huckabee has 22 percent support, followed by Romney at 21 percent, Palin at 13 percent and Gingrich at 6 percent.

In a poll memo for consulting firm Grassroots Solutions Inc., Shaftan writes, “the race remains wide open,” Politico reports. “Right now, a quarter of voters are undecided and that number beats any other candidate. Huckabee and Romney are clearly the top two contenders, and Romney, despite being in second, has a more motivated voter and ultimately would probably edge out Huckabee if the caucus were today.”